Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

Author	Jeff Kinney
Country	United States
Language	English
Series	Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Genre	Children's novel Graphic Novel
Publisher	Amulet Books (US) Puffin Books (UK)
Publication date	November 7, 2017 (Worldwide)
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	221 story pages (228 altogether)
ISBN	978-1-4197-2545-6
Preceded by	Double Down
Followed by	The Meltdown

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway is the twelfth book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney. The book was unveiled during the 2017 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Virtually Live Event which was live streamed via YouTube as part of the 10th anniversary of the first book.^[1] The book was published and released on November 7, 2017.^[2]

Plot

When Greg Heffley's family try to prepare for Christmas, Greg's parents decide to skip Christmas and travel by plane to Isla De Corales after seeing an ad for it, the resort they stayed at while on their honeymoon, much to Greg's dismay, as he does not like the idea of skipping Christmas.^[3]

On Christmas Eve they drive to the airport but are delayed by a series of mishaps. They encounter holiday traffic but arrive at the airport. As they fail to unload in time at the drop off zone, Frank and Greg have to return later with the luggage. Greg steps in a slush puddle and they end up missing the shuttle. They are forced to walk to their terminal.

In the airport, the family's suitcases are too heavy, so they stuff some clothes into their carry-on baggage. They enter the line for security, but a child unclips a few zip-barriers separating the lines, and everybody gets scrambled. Greg's family ends up at the back of the line. They go through security and are delayed again by somebody who has to remove all of his metal piercings. Manny then gets his stuffed animal stuck in an escalator, delaying them more. As a result, the family panic, and grab their luggage. They use a vehicle for handicapped people to get to their gate in time. It turns out their flight is delayed. Greg goes to dry his sock but destroys it while doing so. He hears that the flight is overbooked, but Susan Heffley (Greg's mom) stops him from volunteering to get off the plane in exchange of an airport hotel stay and $300 (later increased to $500). A replacement crew for the plane is required and they wait one last time, and then finally board.

Greg is first impressed by the plane's first class seats before he discovers that they have to sit in economy. However, Frank Heffley (Greg's dad) collected enough air miles because of all his business trips to sit in first class. In the economy, Mom, Rodrick, and Manny are seated in the right row. Greg finds out he has two extra seats to himself until a couple with a baby arrives late on board. The couple sits on either side of him with their baby. Greg becomes paranoid when he watches the plane's safety video and begins to ask questions about unfortunate events. Greg is very aggravated of the other passengers because most aren't watching the safety video. Mid-flight, he feels boxed in when the people in front recline and the person behind slides his feet on Greg's armrest. Greg tries to recline his chair too but when he asks the flight attendant how he learns that he can't because the row behind him is an emergency exit. He tries to swap seats with Frank but Rodrick beats him to it. He stays in the bathroom because the couple's baby started to get annoying, but then he returns to his seat after experiencing turbulence. He somehow was able to sleep for the rest of the flight.

As they land on Christmas Day, Greg begins to understand why the family came there. They touch down and began to head to the resort, Isla de Corales (Coral Island in English). He is even excited by the activities the resort offer which he sees on the bus. However, Frank and Susan are disappointed that the resort has since changed, and it is now split with a family side (the Mild Side) and a couple side (the Wild Side) and the hotel they wanted to stay last time is now in the Wild Side. The family has to stay to a different hotel. The family also discovers that they got one bag accidentally that belongs to another family. They call the airline and discover that their bag was sent back home. They only have the clothes they put in their carry-on luggage. They attempt to buy some new clothes, but Frank won't buy them as they are too expensive.

The family goes to explore the resort and end up at the pool. Greg is about to doze off when The Director of Fun shows up, and gets everybody moving. Greg is forced to take part in two games (a conga line and a "Treasure Dive"). After this, Greg sees an iguana by the pool and is worried, so the family goes to get some lunch. Greg and his family try to eat outside; however, too many birds and bugs keep ruining their meals. Frank gets diarrhea, so they head back to the suite.

The next day, Greg uses the shower which is outside. As he puts on his slipper, a giant spider falls out. Greg has an intense fear of spiders. As a result, he calls room service, but the lady who answers says that there is a do not disturb sign on the doorknob. The lady says he has to order food for someone to come. The waiter who arrives is also scared of spiders. Eventually, they manage to trap the spider and flush it down the toilet. The family heads to the beach without Frank as he is still at the suite. He returns, however, and reveals that he found the same spider that Greg attempted to flush away on the toilet seat. Manny develops an obsession with collecting sea creatures in his bucket so he can have them as pets. Unfortunately, he is upset by Susan when she returns them, so they go to the activities.

Before this, they have to find Rodrick, who has been in the teen zone helping a girl get her lip ring out of the volleyball net. They first try the banana boat, but this is ruined when a kid using a water trampoline lands on it and bursts their float. They get hungry, so they go to the golf clubhouse which turns them down as they are not following the dress code. They go to the swim-up bar and learn of a monkey which has been returning there for drinks every day. They are chased away when Manny finds the TV remote, changes the channel to his favorite cartoons and throws the remote in the water. Greg goes to the arcade, and the family regroups later to find Rodrick. The same girl he helped earlier is now his girlfriend. In the evening, they go to the beach bonfire and go to see turtles hatching. Just as they are prepared to leave, they begin to hatch, but the turtles lose their way to the sea as people are using the flashes on their phones to take photos.

The next day, Susan goes to the spa and Frank goes to the gym. Rodrick then goes back to the teen zone. Greg takes Manny to the Toddler's Cabana, but Manny gets out of going there because he is not potty trained. He puts Manny in the pool but has to get him out again later. Susan booked a charter cruise for the whole family due in thirty minutes. On the cruise (which turns out to be a regular glass-bottomed boat), the captain offers them to go scuba diving. Greg is freaked out by all of the deadly animals, including the venomous box jellyfish, and only stays in for one photo. As he surfaces, he swallows a big gulp of water. He thinks a seahorse was in there too: so they return to the resort to see a doctor. Frank and Susan were both seasick, so they just return to the poolside.

They see the Director of Fun, who keeps circling their chair, but suddenly stops at a clear plastic bag in Manny's bucket. It is actually a box jellyfish which Manny smuggled from the scuba diving, in which the Director of Fun launches it back into the pool in fear. Because the pool workers couldn't find the jellyfish, they have to drain the pool. They escape in the commotion, and notice Rodrick isn't there. He had been left in the sea where they went snorkeling and had sun poisoning. They return to the suite and decide to spend their last few days outdoors.

The next day, Greg goes to the tennis court in hopes of learning how to play tennis. Unfortunately, the counselor, Rodrigo, locks them in, and Greg realizes that it was a way to get kids out of their parents hair and just a cage full of children with a ball machine and tennis balls. It turns into a free-for-all, which stops suddenly when one of the kids recognizes Greg as the kid who brought the box jellyfish during the episode. He tries to tell them that it was Manny's fault, but they don't understand and attack him. He quickly escapes the cage and goes back to the suite with his family. They were out of things to do and want to leave the resort early; however, Frank refuses to leave until he gets a decent meal. Manny discovers that the suitcase they got on mistake fell and broke and also has the clothes they need to get in the clubhouse. They each wear some of the clothes in there; the first head to the clubhouse, and then the putting green for golf. However, they are spotted by a security guard. They try to escape on a golf cart, but get caught. The guard escorts them out of the green. A family had reported them for wearing their missing clothes.

They are ultimately sent back to the hotel to return the clothes to the correct family. They were also ejected from the hotel for theft, so they were forced to stay overnight at the airport hotel. The next day, Frank and Susan decide to get back to the resort so that they can leave on a high note. So they sneak in. They skip the pool and then run into Rodrick's girlfriend with a man named Rodrigo (the counselor). They take a photo. They go back to the beach and steal some food by distracting others and then eating their food. They go to take one more photo but are spotted by the family who they took clothes from.

The Heffleys try to escape the resort. Greg heads to the beach and windsurfs away. He gets stuck in the dolphin swimming area but manages to swim to shore. He ends up on the Wild Side (couple) of the beach and lands on a private beach. Greg runs for the wall dividing the two sides; just where his family was passing. Greg tries to climb over the wall separating the two sides, but it is destroyed by a stampede of Mild Side tourists. The family escapes unnoticed and heads to the airport.

When they get back, Greg wants to show Rowley where he went to for his Christmas holidays. He discovers that he and his family has been banned from the resort for the rest of their lives and are wanted for the chaos they caused. On Isla de Corrales' website, there is a picture of Greg's family on the banana boat with words in Spanish and X's on each member of their family: "¡Atención! Póngase en Contacto con Isla de Corrales si conoce la identidad de las personas en la foto de Arriba." translating in English to "Attention! Contact Coral Island if you know the identities of the people in the picture above."

Release date

The Getaway is the 12th book in the series, and was released everywhere except Canada and China on November 7, 2017.

Reception

A week since its release, it has received 4.5/5 stars on Waterstones with 786 reviews.^[4]

References